Monogramed Tea Towel

 

It's wedding season and I am getting prepared for all the fun handmade gifts to go out. I love how this cute monogrammed tea towel for a cute couple I know came out. It was so quick to make using Joy Iron on Letters.

I started with a pre-purchased towel with the absolutely cutest pom pom trim. I love pom pom trim! I think everything is better with a little pom pom trim added to it!! I selected the 3" Monogram font from Joy Iron-on Letters along with an ampersand and some hearts from other sets. 

It is so easy to color the letters to match your projects. My favorite method is to use VersaMagic ink, but you can also use dyes, spray inks, paints, - pretty much anything! After inking well I set the letters aside to dry. 

To make sure everything ends up where I want it I like to use my quilting ruler to measure out positions. Once I have everything in place I use heat resistant tape to secure the pieces before I iron. The tape will hold the pieces in place, but will leave no residue on the project. When you are done ironing you simply pull the tape off! 

Look how cute it turned out! I will be gifting this towel with the toasting glasses I etched. To see how I made the glasses see this post. 

I like to use my ironing pad and my new Oliso iron so that I can work on a counter in my studio.

You can find the iron here. 

And the ironing mat here. This had made my life so much easier not having to drag out my ironing board every time I need to iron a tiny thing!

Etched Monogramed Hurricane Centerpiece

We have a wedding coming up this spring in our family and what is more perfect for a table centerpiece than an Etched Monogrammed Hurricane? This is the south after all, we do love our monograms!

I picked up a set of these Hurricane Globes at an estate sale last fall and I have been looking for the perfect project to use them for. Wedding? Perfect! I used Etching Creme, etchmask®, and tools from etchall®, along with masking tape and a sharpie.

I used my Silhouette Cameo to cut the etchmask®. In order to apply it to this extremely crazy curved surface I removed the backing from the center of the mask first and centered it on the hurricane.

OK. This project almost ended up smashed on the floor. Seriously. It was crazy difficult to apply the mask to this thing! I don't mind curved surfaces, but this thing curved out, then back in again. Notice there are a couple of bubbles in the mask - since they were in the part I was going to remove, I wasn't too concerned about it. I just make sure that there are no bubbles on the cut lines.
NOTE: - I use a sharpie to trace over some of the cut lines before I apply the transfer paper to the front. This lets me see where my design is so I can apply it where I want it

Finally I am able to take the transfer paper away and then I use the Squeegee tool to smooth down all my edges, just in case. At this point I am ready to apply my Etching Creme - let it sit for 15 minutes, then return the excess to the jar. (You do know that etchall® is reusable, right??) Rinse away the remaining creme and remove the mask.

Please forgive the outside in the yard photo. There were so many curves on this thing it was impossible to get a shot with no glare/reflections on it inside the house!

I welded several designs together to get this monogram that goes almost all the way around the hurricane.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out- now I just have to do it again so I have a matching pair. Sigh.

Hop on over to the etchall® blog to see all the great products, tools, tutorials, and projects available.

Wedding Bouquet with Offray Ribbon

Good morning everyone~ This month I had an opportunity to work with one of my very favorite things- RIBBON! Offray Ribbon and Designer Crafts Connection are joining forces this month to show off the some of the fabulous things you can do with ribbon :)

I received some fabulous metallic ribbons in White, Lavender and Silver and the first thing I thought was WEDDING. So that is what I went with.

Smaller, family style weddings are my favorite, and it is pretty easy to make your own bouquet from fresh flowers.

Start by gathering your flowers and stripping all the leaves from the stems. Start with the flower you want in the center of your bouquet, and start adding flowers around it, holding them all in your left hand (or right, if you are left handed) as you add to the bunch. Once you have the bouquet as full as you want it, make sure the edges are pretty even and the whole thing looks balanced. Trim the stems about a couple of inches longer than your final length and use a heavy rubber band to hold the stems together while you work with them.

I made some small bows to use as filler in the flowers with Cosmic Lavender ribbon; set those aside for now. For the first layer of ribbon, I start at the bottom of the stems and tie a square knot with the ribbon to keep it in place; trim the short edge off. For this layer I used Cosmic White and wrapped it overlapping layers all the way to the top of the stems, tying another knot to secure; trim edges. For the top layer of ribbon I used a Silver Satin 3/8". For this layer you will need to find the center of your ribbon (I used about 2 yds) and place the center behind the stems at the bottom. Bring the ribbon around to the front and tie a square knot. Add a decorative floral pin in the center of the knot to keep it in place. Wrap the ribbon in a crisscross pattern up the stems, overlapping them in the front about every inch or so; insert a pin where they overlap (don't tie knots here). When you get to the top, wrap the each side of the ribbon around the stems a couple of times, then tie a knot to secure.

Once you have finished wrapping, trim the stems just below the ribbons, leaving about 1" showing.

I added a large bow made with the Cosmic White and Silver Satin, and tied it just below the flower heads on the front.

 I tucked the Cosmic Lavender bows in the top of the bouquet where ever I needed a little filler.

Be sure to add ribbon to your accessories so that everything coordinates! Here I used the Silver Satin on the cake server, adding a matching fabric flower on top.

Thanks so much to Offray for the fabulous ribbons to work with :)  Be sure to hop through the entire web ring to see the other amazing things the designers came up with.  You can navigate through the ring by using the logo on my right sidebar.

Thanks so much for stopping by today and have a wonderful day.